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Translated by
Nicola Mira
Published
Dec 15, 2016
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Abercrombie & Fitch Europe to be managed from USA

Translated by
Nicola Mira
Published
Dec 15, 2016

For just over a month, Abercrombie & Fitch's Europe and Middle East division has been managed from the group's US headquarters in Columbus. The division's former Managing Director, Boris Djordjevic, left the group in the autumn, heading for Michael Kors, where he was appointed Vice-President Finance for Europe.

A&F's European business is managed from the USA - Abercrombie & Fitch


Jennifer Wangler, replacing Djordjevic, has been at A&F since 2006 and for the last two years has worked as Senior Director of Internal Audit at the group's Columbus headquarters. Also based in Ohio is Robert Bostrom, Senior Vice-President and General Counsel for the group, and the General Manager of A&F France.

These changes are occurring at a time when A&F is experiencing a decline in sales which has been ongoing for nearly four years. In the latest quarter, revenue fell by 6% compared to the same period in 2015, and in like-for-like terms, international sales have slumped by 10%. The group operates 745 stores in the USA and 185 between Canada, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and the management has begun to close some of them down, as well as planning a global redesign.

In 2016, A&F has closed down 50 stores in the USA, but it is also experiencing difficulties abroad: its Seoul and Hong Kong flagship stores have announced their closure, and the lease for the Ginza store in Tokyo is being renegotiated. Asia remains however well entrenched in the group's strategy, with a planned opening in Beijing, while the outlook for the European market, now that the management is based in Columbus, is hazy.

"A number of our US stores are about to reach the end of their leases, so we are very flexible there, and the same in Europe, explained the group's CFO Joanne Crevoiserat in a recent exchange with financial analysts. All of these stores however remain very profitable, and we are not planning to close down many of them in Europe."

The financial results of Abercrombie & Fitch France appear to confirm this intention: the group's 15 French stores (14 Hollister stores and Paris' Abercrombie & Fitch flagship) have recorded a yearly revenue close to €82 million, with an operating income of €3.1 million in the fiscal year closed on 31st January.

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